Painting the landscape has become the solution to my phone photos never capturing the essence of a place, or how the mountains make me feel. It has become my way of journaling all the vastly different environments that I find so much joy in, in a way that my photographs could never do justice to.

For the past several years, these efforts have revolved around my hiking adventures, as I’ve attempted to carry a small watercolor kit to paint while immersed in new landscapes and the wonderful, and often very silly, culture of thru-hiking. I hoped to capture the nuances of this life, which include activities such as loitering outside of a store for hours trying to recharge phones, doing laundry in a sink, and eating as much junk food as possible in addition to appreciating the wonders of nature. Along with the Appalachian Trail, I've hiked and art journaled along the Pacific Crest Trail, and hope to do the same on the Continental Divide trail in 2023.

Spending time in nature reconnects us with something missing in our constructed worlds, and it’s this magic that that I try to imbue my work with in order to remind us to feed our souls in this important way.